<p>I finished a phone interview with someone from Columbia and I thought it went really well. I won't bore anyone with the details of our conversation, but by the end of it, he was saying things like: "Columbia is looking for students like you... driven, motivated, ambitious leaders" "You and Columbia are like a match made in Heaven." I appreciated the compliments (however overdone they may have been- especially that last one lol). Soooo, how greatly will an interview (that was in my opinion, quite awesome) effect my chances for Columbia- especially since my SAT scores are on the lower end of the Ivy spectrum?</p>
<p>omar - i’ve posted a few times on this on the board.</p>
<p>the answer: it depends. </p>
<p>though having SAT scores on the lower end certainly doesn’t disqualify you automatically, the question is always how much lower, if you are significantly lower and don’t have a top flight gpa and don’t have a lot of other things pulling for you, a great interview is mute.</p>
<p>but supposing you have everything else and just slightly lower SAT scores, a great interview could certainly enhance your chances because the adcoms do read the reports. </p>
<p>or if the adcom was feeling one way about you, the interview could help put things in perspective.</p>
<p>but overall - there is not much you can know because you don’t know how the rest of your application reads.</p>
<p>I have my phone interview soon, but what specific questions did they ask you??!! I am really worried because I feel like 20 min. is not enough to convey everything I want to say!!</p>
<p>I think your fantastic interview will help you if you are in the maybe pile and the adcoms are trying to choose between you and another person.</p>
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<p>The purpose of the interview is for you to answer the interviewer’s questions, not for you to convey whatever crap you “want to say.” You had a whole application to convey everything you wanted to say. Keep that in mind and you’ll do better.</p>
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<p>The comments are so over the top. Aside from that, it depends what the interviewer writes in his report. Saying those sorts of superlatives in the report is worthless if the interviewer can’t back it up with specifics. Also, the interview is a minor part of the application.</p>